Vote for Your Favorite Logo!

@Mollybermea whipped up some logos for me to use for business cards. They rock!  I definitely need help picking just one.  Please vote for your favorite in the comments!

Simplicity Strikes Again

My Dad and I took Kai (5 years old) with us backpacking on the Lone Star Trail this weekend.  It's a 150 mile trail that winds through the Sam Houston National Forest.  Deep in thick and tall pine forest, you feel like you're really getting away from it all.

We hiked in about 3 miles and then pitched our tents right before it got dark.  You can camp and build fires anywhere along the trail, depending on forest fire potential conditions and hunting seasons.  The next day, we packed up and finished out a loop by hiking about another 4 miles back to the car.  Kai carried his own sleeping bag in a backpack.

I could go on and on about how backpacking and primitive camping is made easier and safer by going simple and light.  The number of examples is infinite.  But, one of my favorite methods lately is a certain type of stove - the MSR Pocket Rocket.

You just screw the "stove" to the canister and light.  That's it.  You can save lots of fuel by being able to turn it off quickly and light it back up again with just a flick of a lighter.  If you wanted to light a real campfire, you could hold it by the canister and point it at the pile of twigs you want to catch alight.  Nice!

Big props to my dad for coming out and hiking the trail.  And to those of you that think that 5 years old is too young for primitive backpacking, Kai didn't want to leave and is talking about going back as soon as we can.  Kids are as tough as they are awesome!

Talking Bikes

David Byrne (lead singer of the Talking Heads) is a kick-ass guy.  Just like he sings in a straightforward kinda way, he's written a great book about biking in the US.

What's funny is the bike culture has fallen absolutely in love with him.  Bikesnobnyc puts it right by saying, ""Stop the presses!" It's David Byrne:

--Riding a bike
--Eating a sandwich
--Taking out his trash
--Getting arrested for running a cockfighting ring with Debbie Harry in his Hell's Kitchen apartment"

Anyway, what's great is reading any of his writings after watching "Burning Down the House" on youtube.  You can't internalize him speaking without that crazy punchiness.  Give it a try!

Step 1. Watch Burning down the house video.

Step 2. Read this excerpt from The Bicycle Diaries.

30 Days to a Habit Change - Day 13

This is a good morning.  I've been taking it easy since the Ironbaby, sleeping in and being a lazy, non-athlete in general.  I've worked out some, but not much.  But today, today, I got up a little early and did my task list/google calendar thing and read the latest Yehuda Moon cartoon over a nice cup of Yerba Mate.  Ahh...

I motivated yesterday by a great posting by Zen Habits.  It was an instructional about how to clean your slate and then add in what you want. I especially liked the part about writing down what you ideal day is like and then working on changing your life until it matches.  First thing on my "ideal day" list? Getting up and having a nice cup of Yerba Mate and aligning my day.  Feels good!

A big bonus is that I still weigh exactly the same (181 lbs.) as I did at the peak of my training and on race day.  It's like I've totally reset my normal body weight.  

By the way, the best review of Kona that I've heard so far is the second half of the Age Grouper Podcast.  I like how they calculated how Macca got mellow because of having a kid.

30 Days to a Habit Change - Day 12

I love my spreadsheet and I've only used it once.  LOL.

I color-coded athletes by how much attention they need.  Green for ones that are somewhat on autopilot for a week or so, yellow for those about to race or questioning a weird pain, and red for those I need to know something about right now.

What's nice is I can open up the spreadsheet and see who's in the red.  I take care of them first, then move on to the yellow.

Kai and I went on a nice nature walk yesterday.  Just us and the woods.  I was instructed that he was to lead, except when scary animals spooked him.  It was very relaxing.  No constantly checking emails or twitter to see if I had missed something to do with coaching.

I love the whole minimalism theme that is getting popular lately, but it also worries me a bit.  If it really is a symptom of Americans getting fed up with "too much" everything and wanting to slow down, that's cool.  At the same time, it could (and might already be) dramatically shift people's spending habits and cause the whole economy to hit the skids.  I don't think change is bad, but it causes the least amount of pain when it's gradual, not abrupt.  You have to give people time to phase out, change jobs, and change habits instead of going homeless.

Just like how 911 caused a lot of people to re-evaluate how they prioritize family time, maybe the oversaturation of cars and "cheap crap from China" has hit the tipping point and is causing us to want to do without.  My real dream?  I wish towns were much more interconnected by bikes and it was safer to ride them.  That's all.  I think that leads to all kinds of benefits on its own.